New build estate with weak wooden frames

Today i was out canvassing one of my local estates which is a large new build development. I noticed a guy doing some work to one of the downstairs windows and stopped to have a chat. After explaining i was a windy the handyman said "not one of the those using poles?" Apparently they have had problems with WFP cleaners making the frames fall off the windows on the houses due the weakness of the build quality. He said they had started pinning all the window frames now but anything built before early 2018 has unpinned frames (basically wood stuck on with weak glue ?)

He pointed me towards a window around the corner where the problem had occurred. I took a picture and also a shot off a couple more of the type of frames these houses have. I have a couple properties on the estate but moving forward it was going to be one of my biggest targets for business. It was interesting to me to see the lack of build strength. I am posting to warn others of this potential problem and also to try and make a plan for doing a clean on the houses built before the pinning started. 

I do some like this, had one or two become loose on the first floor so I'm very careful cleaning them. Had one come off on the ground floor and just pushed it back on. When I turned up next time it was off, customer wasn't bothered when I told them. Not all customers would be so forgiving though. 

Those are what’s known as ‘authentic Georgian’. 

This is where the bars are on the outside of the glass as opposed to inside the glass unit.

When I was a window fitter, we hated the authentic Georgian as the UPVC bars always gave us grief.

As @Part Timer says, we have also knocked a few off.

I keep gorilla glue in my van for hassle like this 

I brush the window same way as the trim runs never had any issues and I clean a lot with them on 

Astragal windows I have knocked a few bars off use a softer bristle like DuPont are nice on these I find. 

steve garwood said:

Those are what’s known as ‘authentic Georgian’. 

This is where the bars are on the outside of the glass as opposed to inside the glass unit.

When I was a window fitter, we hated the authentic Georgian as the UPVC bars always gave us grief.

As @Part Timer says, we have also knocked a few off.

I keep gorilla glue in my van for hassle like this 

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Yeah I have that glue also - would be frustrating if it wasn’t ground floor. I think the builders of these properties realise how naff the frames are bc they are voluntarily fixing them when they fall off. 

I also have gorilla glue in my van but know from previous use it leaves a brown excess when it dries so likely needs a secondary clean up with a knife to finish off. Thanks for the help / feedback ?

yeh I mentioned about this in that post the other day about the satellite dish. flimsy bits of beading glued on. Dont know how important they are, but they aint gonna last, wfp cleaner or not. Seems like a madder world than ever that people have to pay over 200k for these places that will just fall down in a few years, and ultimately we all pay for it somehow or other. They ( the power) know all about this and other stuff going on, always have, and do NOTHING. Idiots.

The worst case i came across was a new build development where the windows had a plastic astragal frame clipped on the outside.

To clean them trad in those days you had to pull the thing off each time as looking from the inside you could see the dirt behind the frame.

They even had them on the patio doors.

I knew in time that pulling these things off every clean was just storing up trouble and the clips would either break or they would work loose and fall off.

I walked away from the work and one of these days i am going to pop back round and have a look to see if they are still in place.

The glued on strips fall off in time too either with cleaning or just due to weathering.

Crazy idea in the first place they should be a solid part of the frame or just left plain.

We carry a roll of 3m double sided tape on the vans but if you knock one off the 3 or 4 th floor you aren’t going to be putting it back on unless you can access the inside of the property